CHAPTER XI.

_PARROTS, CUCKOOS, AND PLANTAIN-EATERS._

PARROTS.

"The art of taming wild animals," writes Mr. Jenks in his "History of Politics," "and making them serve the purposes of man, is one of the greatest discoveries of the world." He holds--and there can be little question as to its reasonableness--"that the domestication of animals converted the savage pack into the patriarchal tribe," and that the earliest domesticated animals were pets. How great a share, then, PARROTS may have had in this civilisation and advancement no man can tell, for it is impossible to say how long these beautiful birds may have been esteemed as pets, or how early they were introduced to the notice of the civilised peoples of past generations. Certain it is, however, that for more than 2,000 years they have been held in the highest esteem.

Modern discovery has added enormously to the list of known parrots, so that to-day more than 500 different species have been described, and these may be divided into NESTORS, LORIES, COCKATOOS, COCKATEELS, MACAWS, and KAKAPOS.

Of the first named, the best known is the KEA, or MOUNTAIN-NESTOR, of the South Island, New Zealand. Dull in coloration, and not striking in appearance, it has earned an unenviable notoriety, which appears to rest as much upon fable as upon fact. It seems that, since the introduction of sheep into this part of the world by the settlers, this bird has found a diet of flesh more stimulating than one of fruit. Exactly how this came to be is not known. Two explanations have been advanced. The first has it that the birds settled on the skins of the sheep slaughtered for their wool, and picked off pieces of fat therefrom, as well as various tit-bits from the carcases of the same, and thus found out how toothsome--or beaksome--mutton was. From this they went a step further, and did the slaughtering for themselves. Parties of them now go a-hunting, worry a sheep till exhausted, then dig down through the back, and so wound the intestines that death results. Another explanation is that the birds in the original instance mistook the sheep's backs for the huge masses of lichen common to this region, of which the birds are very fond. Not finding it to their taste at the top, they dug deep, and soon came to the flesh, which, like the forbidden fruit, proved more palatable than that which was provided for them by a bountiful Nature. The result is, that they have become a menace to sheep-farmers, and are on this account in danger of extermination. It has, however, been denied recently that the damage inflicted is anything like so serious as was at one time reported, since on one run, where the damage was unusually large, only 1 in 300 sheep was so attacked. This bird has also been said to attack horses.

Very different, in general appearance and in esteem, are the LORIES. Like the Nestors, the tip of the upper jaw, or beak, is smooth, or nearly so; and in this respect these two groups are to be distinguished from all the other parrots; but in the gorgeousness of their plumage they far eclipse their congeners. Absent in New Zealand, they are found elsewhere throughout the Australasian region, inclusive of Polynesia, and are highly esteemed as pets, combining great beauty with a very docile disposition and considerable talking powers.

The birds of this section are also known as BRUSH-TONGUED PARROTS, from the presence of a remarkable "brush" borne on the end of the tongue. This is a special adaptation, enabling the birds to feed upon honey; some, indeed, have this brush particularly well developed, and are almost entirely honey-seekers, whilst others, wherein the brush is less developed, live largely on fruits. Professor Moseley tells us that honey literally poured from the mouths of BLUE MOUNTAIN-LORIES which he shot at Cape York.

The COCKATOOS are abundant in the Australian region, but have their headquarters in the Malay Archipelago. Besides the familiar white-crested form so commonly kept in England, the group includes an iron-grey coloured bird with a bright red head, and a huge black species, which represents the giant of the order. It is a funereal-looking bird, the largest specimens inhabiting New Guinea. One of its most striking features is the beak, which is of enormous size. Its tongue differs from that of other parrots in that it is slender and cylindrical in shape, and of a deep red colour, instead of thick, fleshy, and black. It frequents, Mr. Wallace tells us, the lower parts of the forest, feeding upon various fruits and seeds, but displaying a marked partiality for the kernel of the canary-nut, which grows on a lofty forest-tree; "and the manner in which it gets at these seeds," writes Mr. Wallace, "shows a correlation of structure and habits which would point to the canary as its special food. The shell of this nut is so excessively hard that only a heavy hammer will crack it; it is somewhat triangular, and the outside is quite smooth. The manner in which the bird opens these nuts is very curious. Taking one end-ways in its bill, and keeping it firm by a pressure of the tongue, it cuts a transverse notch by a lateral sawing motion of the sharp-edged lower mandible. This done, it takes hold of the nut with its foot, and, biting off a piece of leaf, retains it in the deep notch by the upper mandible, and again seizing the nut, which is prevented from slipping by the elastic tissue of the leaf, fixes the edge of the lower mandible in the notch, and a powerful rip breaks off a piece of the shell. Again taking the nut in its claws, it inserts the very long and sharp point of the bill, and picks out the kernel, which is seized hold of, morsel by morsel, by the extensile tongue."

Of the typical parrots, the best known is the common GREY AFRICAN PARROT, with a red tail, so valued on account of its great talking powers. Other species of this section which should be mentioned here are the PYGMY PARROTS, MACAWS, HAWK-BILLED PARROT, BUDGERIGARS, and OWL-PARROT.

The first named are the smallest of all the tribe, remarkable as well for the splendour of the plumage as their size, which is less than that of the common sparrow.

The LONG-TAILED MACAWS, representing the most showy and gaudily coloured of all the Parrot Tribe, inhabit the tropical forests of South America. Mr. Bates describes a flock of scarlet-and-blue macaws, which he came across one day, as looking like a cluster of flaunting banners among the crown of dark green leaves of a bacaba-palm.

The superb HYACINTHINE MACAW is one of the rarest of the Parrot Tribe, and was found by Bates in the interior of Brazil. As its name implies, it is of a deep hyacinthine colour, relieved by a bare patch of pure white skin round the eyes. It feeds on the nuts of several palms, especially those of the macuja. These nuts, which are so hard as to be difficult to break without a heavy hammer, are crushed to a pulp by the powerful beak of this macaw.

Crests among parrots are common enough, but only one species wears a frill; this is the HAWK-BILLED PARROT of the Amazon Valley. It is closely related to the large and well-known AMAZON PARROTS, and has been aptly described as a most extraordinary bird. Its coloration is striking--green above, with a brown head; the frill or ruff around the neck shows up in strong contrast, being dark red, with blue edges, and barred with blue. The feathers of the breast and abdomen, like the frill, are also red and blue, whilst the under-surfaces of the tail and wings are black. It is only when the bird is excited or angry that the ruff is raised.

The HANGING-PARROTS are about the same size as the well-known "love-birds," and remarkable for their habit of sleeping suspended head-downwards by one foot from the boughs of trees. They are all brilliantly coloured birds, and have a fairly wide range, extending from India and the Philippines through the Malay region as far east as Duke of York Island.

The Australian BUDGERIGARS, or GRASS-PARRAKEETS, need no description here; but it is interesting to note that nearly allied to them is a small species known as the SWAMP- or LONG-TAILED GROUND-PARRAKEET. As its name implies, it is a ground-dwelling species, and, in accordance with this habit, has considerably longer legs than the tree-haunting species. This lengthening of the leg in arboreal species is seen also among pigeons and many other birds.

The most interesting, perhaps, of all the parrots is the remarkable KAKAPO, or OWL-PARROT, of New Zealand. Like the species just described, it is also a ground-dweller; furthermore, it differs from all other members of the tribe in being flightless, and, like the flightless members of the Ostrich Tribe, has completely lost the deep keel from the breast-bone, which gives support to the muscles which move the wings. It is a large bird, green in colour, mottled with yellow and black, and derives its name of Owl-parrot from the fact that the feathers of the face radiate from the eye outwards to form a kind of disk. When eating grass, it is said to graze, nibbling after the fashion of a rabbit. Occasionally it is said to climb trees, descending with extended wings, so as to break the force of its career. It has been described as a playful and affectionate pet in captivity, displaying also great cleverness and intelligence. Unfortunately it is growing more and more rare, so that its final extermination is only a question of time--the ravages of dogs, cats, and pigs, introduced by the settlers, being mainly the agents of destruction.

Once common all over New Zealand, the range of the owl-parrot is now restricted to the mountainous regions of North Island and the northern half of South Island. During the day it remains concealed in the holes in rocks or under roots of trees, and if disturbed is difficult to rouse. When taken from its retreat, it runs swiftly, and tries to hide, seeking shelter, if possible, under a heap of soft, dry grass. At sunset, however, it becomes very animated, and travels--at least when possible--in companies, making tracks a foot or more wide across the herbage. It feeds greedily upon mosses, ferns, seeds, berries, and, it is said, even lizards, giving vent, when devouring some favourite morsel, to a kind of grunting noise.

The kakapo nests in holes under trees and rocks, laying two or three eggs, which, like those of the Parrots, are white.

The natives take advantage of its feeble powers of flight, hunting it on foot by torchlight, aided by dogs, which, it is said, are not seldom seriously wounded by the powerful bill.

When the breeding-season is over, these birds appear to live in small communities, four or five occupying the same hole. They are apparently gifted with some foresight, inasmuch as they lay up a store of food, to be drawn upon during bad weather.

CUCKOOS AND PLANTAIN-EATERS.

The Cuckoo Tribe is somewhat unfortunate in that the numerous members of which it is composed are completely overshadowed by the prominence which has been given to the COMMON CUCKOO. Few birds, indeed, have managed to secure so much attention, the poet in particular having sung its praises without stint. This enthusiasm undoubtedly is but an echo of the general popular sentiment, for there are few birds to which we in Britain extend a more hearty welcome, its well-known cry possessing a peculiar charm for lovers of the country. Coming to us in April, and leaving again in July, its stay is of the shortest; but during the greater part of this time its whereabouts may generally be known by the familiar call "cuckoo, cuckoo," though undergoing certain characteristic changes as the months glide by.

Apart from its song, one of the most interesting things concerning the cuckoo is the fact that it goes about in disguise--the disguise of the ass in the lion's skin with a vengeance; for it is clothed in the garb of that terror of the countryside, the sparrow-hawk. Nay, more; it has also most successfully imitated the flight of that bogy; and this to frighten little birds--not, however, for the mere purpose of creating consternation amongst them, but for far more sinister ends.

Somehow or another, in cuckoo society, the rearing of a family is a responsibility which is utterly repudiated. Great pains seem to have been taken to evade this duty, and yet to ensure the continuity of their distinguished house. The oviparous method of reproduction, which obtains in the feathered world, has been turned to good account--in fact, everything depends upon this. It seems to have suggested itself as far more convenient to drop an egg here and there into a neighbour's nursery, and leave the work of bringing it to life to the owners thereof. But to carry out this system of distributing foundlings requires tact, cunning, and the mutual co-operation of both the male and his--at least temporary--wife; hence the disguise. The plan of execution very frequently adopted is for the male to hover over the treasure-house of the intended foster-parents hawk-wise. This is sure to call forth an attack from the poor little wretches threatened, which ends in an apparently hasty retreat of the marauder, followed by his fearless assailants. No sooner is the coast clear, however, than the wily female, taking her egg in her beak, slips quietly up to the nest and deposits her burden.

Let us imagine that this home so lately threatened is that of the modest little hedge-sparrow, and take a peep during the absence of the owners, after quiet has established itself once again. Lying side by side with the tiny sky-blue eggs of the hedge-sparrow we should find the relatively large, greyish-green or reddish-grey egg of the cuckoo. What a contrast! If the hedge-sparrows notice this too, they evidently do not mind, for they invariably hatch it with their own.

But some birds are not so accommodating as this, and would ruthlessly destroy or reject any egg surreptitiously introduced into the nest. Consequently more deception has to be practised. The hawk-like garb still serves its purpose to draw off the intended dupes from the nest; but this is not enough, for to deposit an egg of the normal cuckoo type would be worse than useless, since it would meet with instant destruction on the return of the owners of the nest. But the cuckoo, strange to say, has proved equal to the occasion, and meets the difficulty by laying an egg to match those in the nest. The Redstart, Wagtail, Sedge-warbler, Red-backed Shrike, and Meadow-pipit may be cited as instances of--shall we say exclusive?--birds which must be circumvented by "colourable imitations." Perhaps the most wonderful of the cuckoo successes in this direction is the imitation of the redstart's egg, which is blue.

Naturally these facts have given rise to much speculation, but even now we cannot regard the discussion as finally settled. Some ornithologists held that the egg of every individual cuckoo was subject to great variations, and that the place of deposit of each egg was determined only after the bird had ascertained its colour. If this were true, surely we should find blue cuckoos' eggs in hedge-sparrows' as well as redstarts' nests. But we don't! Others have sought to explain the existence of mimicking eggs to the influence of the food peculiar to the foster-parent upon the germ of the young female cuckoo, which, through this channel, became transmitted to all its descendants. To support this hypothesis it was necessary to throw overboard the old individual variability explanation, and to adopt one that is certainly nearer the truth--to wit, that each cuckoo chooses the nest of that species in which itself was reared as a depository, in turn, for its own egg, and only when such is not available will it select some other species, and trust to luck for its adoption. This would certainly account for many anomalies; but as it seems that there are more eggs unlike than like those of the selected foster-parents, it cannot be a perfect explanation.

A third explanation takes that part of the second for granted which assumes that cuckoos select nests of the species which served them as foster-parents, and explains the mimicry, when this occurs, as due to the results of natural selection.

Our interest, however, in the domestic economy of the common cuckoo is not to be allowed to drop with the incubation of the egg. The perfidy of the parents seems to have cast a sombre shadow over the cradle of the offspring, an evil spell destined to bear fruit with terrible suddenness; for the young, before it is many hours old, and while yet blind and naked, perpetrates its first act of wrong-doing by committing murder! There is no case here of wilful or ignorant misrepresentation and slander, such as many of our feathered friends are made to suffer at our hands--no foolish prejudice such as has blasted the reputation of some of our most guiltless and useful of bird-citizens. The witnesses of the crime of which we speak are many and unimpeachable. The facts are as follows:--

The parent cuckoo deposits her egg in the nest of some other bird with those of the owners thereof. All are hatched. In a few hours after the arrival of the young cuckoo the foster-brothers and -sisters invariably disappear, and are not seldom found in the immediate neighbourhood of the nest. That they must have been removed by force is certain; but this force cannot be attributed to the natural parents. The evidence of the first witnesses, therefore, was worthy of all consideration; and since their accounts have been frequently confirmed by most trustworthy observers, we must now admit the charge proved. One of the best known of these accounts is that of Mrs. Hugh Blackburn. She has given us a vivid picture of this most extraordinary of domestic tragedies. The victims in this instance were meadow-pipits. Finding a pipit's nest with a cuckoo's egg therein, she kept it carefully under observation. At one visit she found the pipits hatched, but not the cuckoo. Forty-eight hours later the cuckoo had not only arrived, but ousted his foster-brothers and -sisters, who were found lying outside the nest, but yet alive. They were replaced beside the cuckoo, which at once reopened hostilities for the purpose of maintaining its absolute possession of the nursery. This it did by burrowing under one of them, which, balanced upon its back, it proceeded to eject by climbing up the nest tail-foremost, till, reaching the brim, it could relieve itself of its burden by heaving it over the edge and down the bank. Pausing a moment, it then felt backwards with its wings to make sure the pipit was really gone, and, having satisfied itself on this point, subsided to the bottom of the nest. Next day, when the nest was visited, the remaining pipit was found outside the nest cold and dead. "But what struck me most," she writes, "was this: the cuckoo was perfectly naked, without a vestige of a feather or even a hint of feathers, its eyes were not yet opened, and its neck seemed too weak to support the weight of its head. The pipits had well-developed quills on the wings and back, and had bright eyes partially opened, yet they seemed quite helpless under the manipulations of the cuckoo, which looked a much less developed creature."

The GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO of South Europe and North Africa is a species which, though parasitic, does not seem to have sunk to such a depth as the common cuckoo. Its eggs very closely resemble those of certain magpies and crows within its breeding-area, and it is in the nests of these that they are deposited. We may assume that mimicry has been resorted to, and become perfected by the same means as have accomplished this end in the case of the common cuckoo. We notice here, however, two points of difference therefrom. In the first place, from two to four eggs are left in each nest instead of one; and, secondly, the young cuckoos seem to live in perfect amity with their foster-brothers and -sisters--there is no ejection of the rightful heirs.

Having pledged themselves to a course of deception and treachery, there is no telling the lengths to which such conduct may lead. We have already seen that the bird has succeeded in laying what we may call forged eggs, but we come now to an instance where the young has also to be disguised. This is furnished by a species of cuckoo known as the KOEL, inhabiting Palawan, an island in the Philippines. This bird shifts its parental duties upon the shoulders of a species of myna inhabiting the same island. Now, the mynas are black, and their young, as is often the case where both sexes are coloured alike, resemble the parents, and are black likewise. With the cuckoo the case is different. The male and female are conspicuously different in coloration, the former being black, the latter brown. In such cases it is the rule for the young to wear the livery of the female. If this rule were adhered to in the case of the cuckoo, destruction would be more than probable, for the mynas would as likely as not destroy so outrageous a departure from myna custom as a brown youngster. But the koel has proved equal to the occasion, by the simple expedient of attiring the young in the male instead of the female livery. Later on in life the rule for the exchange of plumage is reversed, and the young female doffs the temporary black dress of the male for the brown one of the adult female, instead of vice versâ.

All cuckoos, however, are not parasitic, the species known as LARK-HEELED CUCKOOS--from the presence of a long, spine-like claw on the hind toe--building a nest and hatching their own eggs. They have a wide range, being found in Africa from Egypt to Cape Colony, Madagascar, India, China, New Guinea, and Australia.

As a rule, the Cuckoos are not conspicuously coloured, but some species are clad in a livery resplendent with metallic colours. These are represented by the Indian and Australian BRONZE CUCKOOS and the African GOLDEN CUCKOOS. One of the most beautiful of all is the African EMERALD CUCKOO, in which the upper-parts are of a vivid emerald-green, whilst the under-parts are bright yellow.

Finally, we must mention the GROUND-CUCKOOS, which are comparatively long-legged, terrestrial forms, with small wings. One of the best known is an inhabitant of the Southern United States, from Texas to New Mexico, Southern Colorado, and California. "It has obtained the name of ROAD-RUNNER," writes Dr. Sharpe, "from the speed with which it flies over the ground, some idea of which may be gained from a statement of Colonel Stevenson, that, when in Southern California, he saw, on two occasions, the ranchmen of that part of the country chase one of these birds on horseback for a distance of a mile or more at full speed, when the cuckoo, though still in advance, would suddenly stop and fly up among the upper limbs of some stunted tree or bush near the roadside, and the rider, having kept the bird in view all the way, would dismount and easily take the exhausted bird from its perch alive."

That the African PLANTAIN-EATERS, or TOURACOS, are related to the Cuckoos there can be no doubt, although they do not bear any very close superficial resemblance to them. Striking in appearance and of beautiful plumage, they owe as much of the interest which now centres on them to the chemist as to the ornithologist. Long ago it was noticed that the rich crimson colour of the wing-quills disappeared after exposure to a heavy rain, having been apparently washed out--a supposition justified by the discovery still later that the water in which captive species had been bathing was strongly tinged with colour. A little more than thirty years ago these facts came under the notice of Professor Church, who, as a result of a thorough examination of the mystery, was enabled to announce the discovery of a new animal pigment containing copper, which he called "turacin."

There are twenty-five different species of plantain-eaters, which are divided into two groups--those which have red in the quills and those without. All are forest-dwellers, feeding upon various wild fruits, building a nest of sticks resembling that of a pigeon, and laying therein three white eggs. The majority of the species are crested and brilliantly coloured, but a few are quite soberly clad. The largest of the tribe is nearly 3 feet long, and a brief description of its coloration will serve to convey a notion of the beauty of the more gorgeously clad members. In this species, then, the upper surface of the body is blue, the tail yellow, with a blue base and black bar across the tip, the under surface of the body rufous brown, the bill yellow, with a scarlet tip, and the eye red.

Though the tops of the highest trees seem to be their favourite resort, these birds are found also among the dense tangled masses of creepers near the ground, flitting, when disturbed, in graceful curves, and alighting with crest erected and the tail turned sharply upwards. The powers of flight appear to vary among the different species, some being described as decidedly clumsy on the wing, whilst others, on the contrary, are light and graceful. Shy and very restless, they are very difficult to procure, when wounded running with great speed, and taking shelter in holes in trees. Their flesh is esteemed a great delicacy by the natives. Save during rain or the heat of midday, they appear to be very noisy birds, having a harsh note, varied with cat-like mewings.

----